Depressing
Our next round of presidential elections might leave you depressed.
When I was in the fourth grade, we spent a class day watching the movie The Never Ending Story. I can’t remember much about it other than this big dog with big floppy ears that flew in the air, and this kid rode on its back. I think I liked the movie, but don’t ask me about the plot because I don’t think there was one other than the story would never end, even though the story did end. It’s a movie of lies, now that I think about it.
In 2024, our national never-ending political story involves the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, a well-known liar, who is convinced there is a plot to keep him from returning to the White House.
Last week, a New York jury convicted Trump of continued defamation of E. Jean Carrol, who accused him of sexual assault back in the 1990s. In 2023, another federal civil jury in New York found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation. As a nation, we have been sitting like 4th graders watching this nonsense, wondering when it will end.
In the latest scene in this movie, which none of us want to watch, the jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages. It’s just another loss, along with a litany of losses Trump has endured, and it doesn’t look good.
This is depressing.
Conspiracy theories during presidential elections are not new. I’ve covered them in the last two presidential elections. I believe these theories come about because people feel their candidate should have an easier road to victory. Trump has many hurdles to overcome if he hopes to flip the script and return to the White House, and he’s convinced many people that the only thing standing in his way is secret forces determined to bring him down.
Speaking of being brought down, we begin this round of presidential elections right before our Great Depression.
Let's dive in.
55: The Presidential Election of 1928
Election Date: November 6, 1928
The Candidates:
Calvin Coolidge was president in 1928. He was popular, and the 1920s were rolling, and everything looked good. Then, one day, Coolidge walked out of his summer house, told the press, “Yo, I’m out,” and walked back inside, never to be heard from again.
The country was stunned, and the Republican Party was like, " What the heck?” Scrambling to find a suitable replacement, the GOP tapped Cal’s Commerce Secretary, Hebert Hoover, as their nominee.
For the Democrats, winning back the White House would be a considerable challenge. But with Coolidge out, they saw an opening. They needed someone who didn’t give the American people concerns.
With that in mind, they nominated New York Governor Al Smith, a Roman Catholic against Prohibition. Back in the 1920s, Roman Catholics were not particularly popular in the United States, which cut off diplomatic relations with the Vatican in light of the fact that a few Catholics plotted with the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
It was a brilliant move, much like the one-person play on Al Smith I did in college.
Major Issue of the Day:
The New York Rangers won the Stanely Cup in 1928, becoming only the second United States team to do so, and you have to think that upset our Canadian neighbors.
World War I was over, but we weren’t paying veterans. The Spanish Flu was behind us. The economy was booming because we spent much time and effort dismantling monopolies.
The Winner:
Economic Disaster.
In his acceptance speech after the Republican convention, Hoover concluded with this doozy:
We shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this land.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
The stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, sending the country spiraling down a hole where the only things going up were unemployment and businesses closing shop.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Hoover comes in at 37. He spent his years before joining the Coolidge administration working for the Red Cross during World War I. He thought running that playbook during the Great Depression would work because there was no need for government intervention, and the market and goodwill would save the day - like some big magic dog with big floppy ears would come to rescue us.
He left the White House a bitter guy. Despite the success of FDR’s national government programs, Hoover railed against the initiatives. He was like a Fox News anchor who’s upset that Taylor Swift is awesome. Hoover set himself up as the anti-hero. It was him. Hi. He was the problem. It’s him.
The States in the Electoral College:
48. The District of Columbia did not have a vote.
Smith won eight states, four less than the Democratic nominee received in 1924. He won just one Northeastern state, Massachusetts, and lost his own state, New York, which held 45 electoral votes at the time. It’s never a good campaign when the people in your state don’t vote for you.
He was a Catholic opposed to Prohibition and yet won Alabama and Mississippi. Take that for what it means. I did not include this information in my excellent one-person play.
There were 531 members of the Electoral College, and the winner needed to secure 266 votes, like Al Gore got in 2000 but lost.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
As a practicing Catholic, it doesn’t feel that great that Al Smith was so discriminated against. He could have been discriminated against for a lot more reasonable positions and actions. Personally, I liked Smith’s populist positions, which included fighting against the concentration of economic power by industrialists through monopolies. It’s the very thing plaguing us right now, like when you enter a plane and don’t really know if you are, in fact, seated in an exit row.
Hoover acted like he didn’t even want the presidency and operated in a robot-like manner. He always dressed in a suit, which I’m not suggesting is bad, but he needed to have some personality to go along with those starched shirts. The Republicans campaigned on the idea that voting for Hoover would provide chickens in every oven, while Smith would lead to long bread lines full of drunks.
The election that preceded the Great Depression feels like it needs to be way low on the list.
Another economic mess plagued a sitting president who was viewed as too rich and out of touch. So he ran against the oldest living candidate at the time, and it’s also depressing.
Let’s dive in.
54: The Presidential Election of 1840
Election Date: October 30 – December 2, 1840
The Candidates:
Democratic Martin Van Buren was the incumbent president, riding the wave of Andrew Jackson. Like all waves, he came crashing down. It began when he didn’t have a running mate. Former Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson wasn’t renominated, so Marty had to go it alone. Which is wild, right?
The Whig Party was still a major party and nominated William Henry Harrison. Like Andrew Jackson, he was a war hero who spent most of his life killing Native Americans, including the famous leader Tecumseh. Harrison had to beat Henry Clay; by 1840, it was a pretty easy task.
It was a rematch of the 1836 election, minus a few other guys who ran.
Major Issue of the Day:
The Panic of 1937, which sounds like a punk band, was still on people's minds, affecting their pocketbooks.
Slavery and the expansion of slavery were front and center. At the founding, most states only allowed white males who owned property to vote. This included Free Black men. However, leading up to the election in 1840, seven states rewrote their constitutions and barred Black Men from voting.
New states, except for Maine, barred Free Black men from voting under all circumstances.
The Winner:
The Elderly.
Harrison was 67 when he ran, which puts him fourth among the oldest people to take office.
The rematch election saw Harrison flipping many states into his column like he was trading places with Van Buren.
The country would elect the fifth and seventh oldest president over the subsequent few election cycles.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Harrison is ranked 42, just ahead of James Buchanan.
The guy was in office for a month. There’s not much to say about him. I have a book on my shelf on Harrison waiting to be read, so when I get to it in the next ten years, I’ll have more material.
The States in the Electoral College:
26. The District of Columbia wasn’t a thing back then. Michigan was the only new state to join the Union in between election cycles.
There were 294 members of the Electoral College, and the winner needed to secure 148 votes.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
If the guy were president for a month, how would you reflect on his election, especially when he beat an unpopular incumbent?
Okay, so what do you think? Are rematches good? How do you feel when a sitting, popular president decides not to run while a sitting, unpopular president does?
Anonymous should be coming home at some point today. I’m hoping she does because I ran out of soup.
Anyway, happy February! The first month of 2024 is history, and I hope it was a good one. We are approaching the Okay History anniversary, which is not depressing.
Thank you for supporting me, whether you have been here from the beginning or just signed up. Okay History is a lot like The Never Ending Story. We have our own dog. Some of the stuff here doesn’t make much sense, but hey, we are having fun.
Have a great weekend. I’ll see you on Monday!
Okay,
Chris
